Mark Ruffalo wants to change the studio system forever and is taking advantage of the actors’ strike to express himself fully.
In solidarity with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, Hollywood veteran Mark Ruffalo is urging actors to make more independent films. Joining them and the screenwriters on strike on the sidewalks of Hollywood and Manhattan, Mark Ruffalo also spoke out via his Twitter account (via Ary News and Espinof) earlier this week, sharing his thoughts in a series of tweets.
“What if we all turned to indies now?”wrote the Marvel star.
“Content creators create a production system for films and series alongside studio and streaming networks? So there is real competition”, he insisted.
Aiming more at the “big cats” as he calls them, with their “empires”, the actor suggested: “Then we just do what we always do: create great content and they can buy it, or we release it ourselves and WE share those sales. Share the profits. If the project works well, everyone succeeds. They’ve created an empire of billionaires and they think we’re worthless. While they hang around billionaire boy summer camps laughing like fat cats, we’re curating a new world for working people.”
“A sure way to strengthen our hand right now is to immediately become very supportive and friendly to all indie projects. Urge all SAG-AFTRA members to join those who immediately get SAG-AFTRA WAIVERS (WGA). Studios don’t have competition, it’s gonna change that”, noted Mark Ruffalo in a following tweet.
It’s worth mentioning that SAG-AFTRA members are joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in striking for fair compensation, making it the first “double strike” in Hollywood since 1960. For the uninitiated, the WGA has been on strike since May 2. Fair compensation and residual income from streaming services are some of the big issues of the strike, as is the rise of artificial intelligence.
The idea of Mark Ruffalo is to share profits among all workers and make independent films during the strike. “It will also help our fellow filmmakers, ‘The Crew’, whom we love, to keep working. It is also part of solidarity. We have to take care of each other”, he concluded.
Susan Sarandon, among others, supported him and recalled that Matt Damon has just set up an independent studio. Are they sowing the seeds of the future or is it just utopia? Case to follow.